Tag: sadiq khan

“The first thing to state is that it is pleasing to see the concerns of older private renters taken seriously. For too long there has been an assumption that “generation rent” refers only to younger renters making their first steps onto the property ladder. In reality, the number of older private renters is growing steeply, with the number of households in the private rented sector headed by someone aged over 64 expected to treble over the next 25 to 30 years.”

The APPG on Housing and Care for Older People has released a new report titled “Rental Housing for an Ageing Population”. We take a leaf through the findings, particularly how the recommendations match up to our own research into the experiences of older private renters.

“The State of London Debate began with a brief speech from Sadiq Khan, outlining his tenure to date, and discussing his plans for the future. The Mayor emphasised his aim to make London a fairer city, whilst also acknowledging the difficulties the capital has faced in recent years – namely the recent rise in knife crime, the terror attacks of 2017, and the challenges posed by austerity and Brexit. The Mayor stated his desire to do more to improve the environment, to further tackle discrimination, and to do all he can to prevent a no-deal Brexit.”

Last night, Age UK London attended the State of London Debate – a yearly opportunity for organisations and members of the public to put questions to the Mayor of London. Find out what the Mayor had to say about a number of topics and read our questions to him!

“The Summit was a key moment in our campaign to make London the world’s first dementia-friendly capital city. The target is 500,000 Dementia Friends, 2,000 organisations involved and all London boroughs working towards becoming dementia-friendly by 2022.”

Dementia Action Week got off to a fantastic start when Alzheimer’s Society held the capital’s first Dementia Friendly London Summit. Find out all about it here!

“We’re very excited to be joining the WHO Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. The Mayor’s vision is for London to be a place where people of all ages can thrive. Older Londoners make an extremely valuable contribution to city life – as professionals, volunteers and carers. We want to encourage all Londoners to participate actively in community activities and to treat everyone with respect, regardless of their age. We look forward to working with other age-friendly cities and communities in the UK and across the world.”

Last Friday at Age UK London’s Tackling Loneliness Among Older Londoners conference Deputy Mayor Matthew Ryder revealed that London has joined the WHO Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities.

This week, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, released the draft edition of the London Plan, a strategic document that shapes how London will evolve and develop over the coming years. Once finalised, the London Plan will set a policy framework for local plans right across London, as well as forming the basis for all future planning decisions. The plan represents the Mayor’s vision for London over the next 25 years, with particular attention being paid to an estimated population of increase of 1.8 million, taking the capital to an approximate value of 10.5 million.

The document itself is five-hundred pages, so we won’t be able to discuss everything that is mentioned, but we’ve picked out some highlights for you!

This is particularly concerning from our point of view, as older people are considered one of the most vulnerable groups for this type of pollution – especially those with heart or respiratory conditions. As it currently stands, the quality of London’s air is illegally poor, it is the most pressing threat to the future health of London. It is therefore unsurprising that the Draft Environment Strategy states that the Mayor wants to “dramatically reduce the number of Londoners whose lives are blighted by poor air quality.”

Air pollution poses a huge risk to older Londoners – but what can we do about it? We discuss our recent conference on the risks of air pollution and outline the Mayor’s proposals for change in the Draft Environment Strategy.

We’re just over halfway through Age UK London’s project to raise awareness and find solutions for older private tenants in London. We’ve heard a lot from older people about the conditions they live in and their concerns for the future. This research has led us to ask a series of questions: What are the main areas of concern for older private tenants? What changes could be achievable and would help these older renters? What can be done in London, and what would need national legislation?

Later this month we expect to see the publication of the latest “excess winter deaths” statistics, which will show how many older people (and others, but predominantly older people) died unnecessarily last winter. These facts should be a reminder to us that winter is coming and we need to support older people who have trouble heating their homes. As we do every winter, Age UKs in London will be working to help older people keep warm and stay healthy. What will other bodies be doing to make sure people in fuel poverty are able to do the same? Nationally, there […]

Age UK London recently hosted a London Mayoral Hustings for Older People and have also released ‘Making London a Great Place to Grow Older‘ a manifesto for older Londoners. We asked the four candidates who attended our Hustings if they would write a blog post for older Londoners. Here, we have the third of these pieces, from Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for Tooting. Sadiq Khan: Listening to older people and making London a great place to grow older It was great to take part in the Age UK London Mayoral hustings recently. It was a really lively discussion, and one I thoroughly […]

We’ve launched ‘Making London a Great Place to Grow Older’, Age UK London’s manifesto for the 2016 Mayoral and Assembly elections and you can read it here. We’ve also just held a hustings event with Mayoral candidates Sian Berry (Green), Zac Goldsmith (Conservative), Sadiq Khan (Labour) and Caroline Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat). In the near future we hope to have contributions from Sian, Zac, Sadiq and Caroline on this blog.